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My Top 10 Kitchen Tools- Plus a GIVEAWAY!

December is here and it’s my favorite time of year! The lights, the cheer, and the season of giving is in the air! To kickoff the holiday season, I’m listing my Top 10 Kitchen Tools and giving a $25 Amazon Gift Card to one lucky subscriber! I’m so thankful for my supporters, so I thought it was fitting to do a Giveaway as a way of saying Thank You! To enter, simple Subscribe to my blog and Comment on this post below what item you would buy with the gift card. That’s it!

Now on to my list of tools that I love and help make cooking a little easier. Most of the items I’ve listed are affordable with a few splurges that I absolutely love!

First item is a Garlic Press, which is a tool I just purchased this year. I couldn’t believe I had been wasting precious minutes mincing garlic cloves all these years! Not to mention the smell garlic can leave on your hands, is less than attractive. This handy tool is awesome, just place the garlic clove inside, give it squeeze and voila! Perfect minced garlic!

Next up is a Lemon Lime Squeezer. There are quite a few Thai and Mexican dishes that require fresh lime juice and this nifty tool will squeeze half of a lime or lemon and keep the seeds inside. Becuase nothing is more annoying than having to pick out seeds from your dish. This one looks cooler than the one I have since it accommodates small and larger limes.

Continuing with the idea of fresh ingredients, my next tool delivers clean and dry lettuce that’s perfect for wraps, salads and tacos. I also love using a Salad Spinner for herbs, berries, and vegetables.

Most of the tools I’ve listed serve multiple purposes, but this one is very specific and considered more of a splurge if you want to make some authentic Thai dishes, like Papaya Salad (Som Tum). This Mortar and Pestle is mainly used for pounding the ingredients together for Som Tum. I also use it to pound garlic and Thai chilies for Spicy Basil (Pad Kra Pao). While you can still create these dishes without one. I can honestly say that any Thai cook has one of these in their kitchen and my mom gifted me this one, so it’s more tradition for me.

Another tool that is not required for Asian cooking, but can be helpful, is a Wok. I say it’s not required because you can certainly use a large skillet for Stir fry dishes, but the wok allows more room to toss the ingredients faster and prevents them spilling over the side.

If you’re going to be using a Wok or any type of non-stick cookware, then definitely pair with a set of Wooden Spatulas. Metal utensils will scratch the surface and I’m not a fan of using plastic when cooking. These OXO wood ones are durable and look nice.

Do you have cutting boards that have seen better days? If they have deep scratches and stains, then I say toss them and start fresh. I love a large wooden Cutting Board for prepping and it works well if you’re limited on counter space and need to use it over the sink. I love this one to use as a serving platter, like a veggie tray or meat and cheese board. It’s also great to use when slicing large cuts of meat, since the juice will run into the groove. But remember to Always let your meat rest before cutting!

If it’s time to upgrade your cutting board, than you should also take a look at your knives as well. A well sharpened Chef’s Knife will make prepping and chopping vegetables a breeze. I don’t have this specific one, but it has awesome reviews and the price is very affordable compared to other high-end Chef’s knife’s. I strongly recommend hand washing your knives to prevent damage from the dishwasher.

The final two products are on the higher end of the price range, but I use them often, actually the BlendTec Blender we use daily for smoothies. We’ve had this blender for over 3 years now, and it’s one of those gadgets where if it were to break, we would buy one the same day! Yes, it’s pricey, but if you want to drink whole fruit and vegetable smoothies, make blended soups, sauces, and salsas, then I highly recommend this blender!

The final tool of my top 10 list is one that I’ve written a lot about lately, and it’s gained a ton of buzz this year, the Instant Pot. It’s a multi-use pressure cooker and I’ve completely replace all my slow cooker recipes with the Instant pot. All the recipes are done in a fraction of the time and come out more flavorful, since the pot is sealed. I can see why this gadget has a cult following and I’ve only brushed the surface with the types of dishes I’ve made with it. If you need complete meals done in 30 minutes or less, or frozen meat or fish cooked fast, then this tool is a must have as well!

That concludes my Top 10 Kitchen Tools. Thanks for following along and don’t forget to enter the Giveaway for a $25 Amazon Gift Card!

Subscribe to my blog, Enter your name and email address in the subscribe box.

Comment on this post once you’re done and let me know what you would buy with the gift card.

Giveaway will end on 12/14/17 at 11:59 pm PST. Winner will be notified in the comments and via Email. Good Luck!

*Giveaway is not sponsored or endorsed by Amazon. All products listed are affiliate links and do not affect the price of the item, but I do receive a commission on any sale made on my page*